SYDNEY, N.S. -- A judge has harshly criticized a Nova Scotia
woman who changed her son's last name without consent from his
father, calling her conduct "devious, manipulative and
indefensible."

Justice Theresa Forgeron said the mother arranged to forge
the father's signature on an application to change the boy's
name.

"(The mother) was strategic and manipulative throughout,"
said Forgeron in a written decision from the Supreme Court
Family Division in Sydney, N.S.

"(Her) story does not have an internal consistency or logical
flow, nor is it in harmony with the preponderance of
probabilities which a practical and informed person would find
reasonable given the particular place and conditions."

The Canadian Press is not naming those involved in the case
to protect the identity of the child.

The ruling said that when the child was born in 2009, he was
registered with the surname of his biological father.

But two months after the birth, his mother was in a
relationship with another man and in 2012, the child's name was
changed to the surname of the mother's current husband.

Forgeron said the mother knew the child's biological father
would not consent to changing his surname.

"(She) therefore took matters into her own hands and sent a
forged document to Vital Statistics," the decision said,
referring to the provincial department responsible for the
registration of births and deaths.

The decision said the child's father suspected that the
mother changed his child's surname in December 2014 and obtained
a copy of his birth certificate, which confirmed it.

It said about a month later, the mother sent a text message
to the father that was meant for her child that addressed him by
his new last name. The father responded by saying that is not
his child's surname.

"(The mother) then texted 'I KNOW. He was asking me to spell
MY NAME while I cooked his breakfast," the decision said.

When the mother realized he was aware that their child's name
had been changed, she repeatedly approached him to negotiate a
deal.

"(The father) consistently stated 'no."'

Forgeron called evidence provided by the mother and her
husband "erroneous." For example, her husband said the child's
father signed the consent form outside of an apartment he hadn't
yet moved to.

The mother and her husband denied forging the document and
said the father signed the form in the presence of a witness.

But the witness categorically denied watching the father sign
the form, and stated that she never met him before going to
court, the Feb. 17 decision said.

"The witness testified that she signed as a witness at the
request of (the mother), who brought the form to the daycare
where she worked," it said.

Forgeron ruled that it is in the best interest of the child
to have a hyphenated name: the surname of his stepfather first
and his father's surname second.

Paternity FraudUK National Survey

Half the women said that if they became pregnant by another man but wanted to stay with their partner, they would
lie about the baby's real father.

Forty-two per cent would lie about contraception in order to get pregnant,
no matter the wishes of their partner. More ..

DNA: Why the truth can hurt

The Sunday Times
Australia
March 27, 2005

IT sounded too good to be true and it was.

The fairytale that saw Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott reunited with the son he thought he had given up for
adoption 27 years ago, ABC sound-recordist Daniel O'Connor, ended this week when DNA tests confirmed another man had
fathered Mr O'Connor.

The revelations were devastating for all involved, not least Mr O'Connor.

Still reeling from the emotional reunion with his mother, Kathy Donnelly, and Mr Abbott a few months ago, a simple
test of truth has thrown the trio into disarray a situation familiar to thousands of other Australians.

Paternity testing in Australia is a burgeoning industry.

The simplicity of the test cells are collected from a mouth swab grossly underestimates the seriousness of the
situation.
More..

Unfaithful mother fined $120,170

Courier-Mail Newspaper
Australia

Unfaithful mother fined $120,170

From correspondents in Rio de JaneiroAgence France-Presse

September 18, 2007

A BRAZILIAN woman has been ordered by the country's Supreme Court to pay
a hefty fine to her husband for failing to mention that he was not the
father of two of their children.

The Rio de Janeiro woman, whose identity was not disclosed, was ordered
to pay her husband over $US100,000 ($120,170 Australian Dollars) for having hidden from him for
almost two decades that the children in question were fathered by a lover,
the court's offices said yesterday.

The husband also had sought damages from his wife's lover, the court
said.

Paternity FraudSpain
Supreme Court

Adulterous woman ordered to pay husband £177,000
in 'moral damages'

The Daily Mail, UK18th February 2009

An adulterous Spanish woman who conceived three children with her lover
has been ordered to pay £177,000 in 'moral damages' to her husband.

The cuckolded man had believed that the three children were his until
a DNA test eventually proved they were fathered by another man.

The husband, who along with the other man cannot be named for legal reasons
to protect the children's identities, suspected his second wife may
have been unfaithful in 2001. More..

About The truth

"All truth passes through three
stages. First it is ridiculed, Second it is violently opposed. Third it is accepted as self-evident."